The Collected Archives of Jay and Ryan
by Spartan-IV
Summary: Jay and Ryan. They start out as two ordianry citizens who eventually find themselves becoming rebels......by random chance. They don't understand why such a thing happened to them, but they do what they can.
1. Thoughts of Rebellion

**Normally I prefer to focus on one fic at a time, but I just came up with this idea and I had to start writing these. Hope this first one is as funny to you as it was to me!**

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"Let me read a letter I recently received. 'Dear Doctor Breen, Why has the _Combine_ seen fit to suppress our reproductive cycle. Sincerely, a concerned citizen.' Thank you for writing concerned…."

Jay let out a deep sigh as he stared at the T.V, he was really getting tired of hearing Doctor Breen's propaganda. The crazy doctor was the reason Earth had surrendered when it had. If that wasn't enough to make him the symbol of everything to hate, then it was the fact that his constant droning never ended.

A throbbing feeling was creeping inside his skull, Breen's words would echo inside his head, he wasn't surprised it was giving him a headache. Wanting to end his torment, Jay grabbed the T.V, ripped the plug out of the outlet and hurled it out his apartment window. He leaned out the window and shouted, "That's what I think of Doctor Breen!"

Jay's eyes widened when he noticed that the T.V had hit a CP square in the face, the cop was sprawled out on the ground while his partner looked at Jay. The CP's radio crackled, "Threat detected, apartment unit 009 on third floor. Assistance requested."

Fear gripped Jay at the thought of metro-cops with stun-sticks. Their olive coloured uniforms and white skull coloured masks were a terrifying sight to any citizen.

The sound of a door opening made Jay snap his head to the front door of his apartment, he stood frozen to the spot. He was fearful not only of the CPs, but of their quick response. The door slowly parted and Jay couldn't help but hold his breath; he breathed out a sigh of relief when Ryan came through.

Ryan was his best friend; the two had survived constant dealings with the Combine and their friendship was enough to bring light into their dark lives. Jay got Ryan's attention and said, "Ryan, CPs are heading this way!"

"Are they doing more raids? Unless they want our propaganda spewing T.V, there's nothing of value."

"Yeah...about the T.V," Jay said nervously, "I kind of threw it out the window, and it hit a CP in the face."

Ryan couldn't help but hang his head, "Great job."

"I've got an idea though. I just need you to distract them for a second."

"So you can jump out of the apartment to safety? How about no."

"Don't worry, I can get us out of this."

Ryan thought for a moment, but since he didn't have a plan he had no choice but to agree. "Alright, but you owe me for this."

"Deal," Jay said with a slight grin.

No sooner had he said that, then the two could hear the sounds of heavy footsteps thudding on the apartment floor. CP radio chatter echoed throughout the building as the metro-cops moved into position. Jay looked at Ryan and motioned for him to move behind the door to their apartment, ""Follow my lead and move when I give a signal."

"No problem, you want me to protect you from bullets and stun-sticks too?"

"If you wouldn't mind," Jay said with a grin.

Ryan just shook his head, trying to hide his own amusement as he moved into his designated position. As soon as Ryan stood to the side of the front door, CPs kicked the door in and stormed their room, stun-sticks drawn. Ryan watched with a grin as Jay sat down at the kitchen table, his arm held up as he shouted, "Hey CPs!"

One of the metro-cops moved toward his holstered pistol, but Jay rolled his eyes and yelld, "Arm wrestle!"

The lead CP shrugged as if to say, _Why not?_ The others holster their stun-sticks while the lead metro-cop moved to sit at the chair on the other side of Jay. He grabbed Jay's hand and started pushing it down. Jay waited a few seconds until Ryan looked in his direction, he gave a slight nod before using all his strength to slam the CPs hand down with enough force to break the wooden table.

While the CP stumbled backward, Jay quickly ripped the cop's pistol from its holster. He cocked the weapon, pointed the pistol at the three other cops in the room, saying "What? What, what!" His tone indicating he was daring them to make a move.

Ryan moved away from the doorway and took the pistol from the rearguard, the movements of the two friends almost perfectly synched. Ryan looked at Jay wondering what he was going to say now. Jay answered that with a quick command, his pistol still pointing to the three CPs, "Weapons on the floor!"

The CPs look at each other but don't comply. Jay waved his pistol around saying, "Don't make me shoot all of you right here in this room!"

Despite the warning, the CPs draw their stun-sticks and moved toward Jay. The ends of the batons crackled to life, a visible blue emanation signifying that the weapons were powered. They start getting closer and closer, herding Jay into a corner while he continued to wave his captured pistol around, shouting, "I will shoot you right here in this room!"

"I will shoot you right here in this room!"

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"Jay! Jay!"

The shouts stirred Jay from sleep; he slowly opened his eyes to see that he had his right hand held up as if he was holding a pistol. Ryan stood over him with a look of amusement on his face, "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing," Jay said as he attempted to brush off the question. A quick glance confirmed that what he already suspected, he had fallen asleep on the couch in their apartment. _Ah, crap_, Jay thought with a sigh.

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**So, two possible ratings. Great or Greatest. You decide!**

**More to come if people like!**


	2. Increasing Presence

**Here's Chapter 2**

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Ryan looked at Jay as he got himself up off the couch, "What's wrong with you?"

"I just had the weirdest dream," Jay said as he moved to a sitting position on the couch. He looked at Ryan and continued, "CPs were coming to our apartment to kill me for throwing a T.V at one of their patrols." Jay raised his voice to be heard above Ryan's laughter, "I ended up arm wrestling one of them before I took one of their pistols."

Ryan looked thoughtful for a moment, "Wow. That might be…..the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

Jay narrowed his eyes at Ryan while he ran a hand through his black hair, "Whatever. Was there a reason to you waking me up?"

"Well I don't know about you but I like to eat in the morning. We've got to get our ration meals."

"Yeah, but I think I'd be better off eating…..well, anything really."

"Yeah I know, but we still have to go."

"Alright." Jay grudgingly admitted that he was hungry; hunger was a requirement in order to eat what the Combine provide.

The two made their way down the staircase. Jay couldn't help but shake his head when he and Ryan passed through the rooms on the first floor. Amidst the usual sound of Breen broadcasts and idle conversation, there was the unmistakable sound of crying coming from the first door to the left of the staircase. Jay looked at Ryan, who shook his head too. The woman who lived inside was always _crying, _only to be comforted by her significant other_. That woman must have a lot of problems_, Jay thought to himself as he and Ryan reached the front door

Everytime the two passed through the area, they could always hear her sobbing. Jay had dubbed the two "the sad couple." He was just glad he didn't live on the first floor with them.

Stepping out from their apartment, Ryan immediately noted an increase in the presence of CPs. Normally the street was only patrolled by one or two of the treacherous scumbags. But now there were five or six metro-cops, two of whom were standing right outside the entrance to their apartment.

The lenses of the CPs white coloured helmets tracked Ryan and Jay as they made their way down an alleyway toward the food dispensing site, their hands rested on their stun-sticks though they never drew the dreaded weapons. As soon as Ryan was sure that he and Jay weren't being watched, Ryan grabbed Jay's arm and stopped him short. "What?" Jay asked.

"We've got to find a new apartment, you saw the CPs. They're going to be starting raids soon."

"I don't think that's what they were doing."

"There was a whole squad of metro-cops moving toward one of the apartments," Ryan stated matter-of-factly, "What else would they be doing?"

"Is that a trick question?"

"What? No."

"Ah, so it is a trick." Jay stated, with a proud look on his face. He held the look for a couple of seconds longer before he let out a laugh.

Ryan couldn't help but laugh along. In a Combine-controlled world, such a sound was a foreign one. But for the two friends, it was an all too familiar occurrence.

"As for the apartment, it's your turn to find a new one. That last search took forever to find a vacant spot." Jay said with a frown at the memory.

"Yeah well you wouldn't have had to search for a new apartment if you didn't start that fire." Ryan replied with a grin.

"You had to bring that up, I mean it's not like it was my fault anyway!"

"You fired _three_ flares!"

"Listen Ryan, the first flare was an accident. And when I fired the second… well that was to extinguish the first, because you know the saying: 'fight fire with fire'. Then of course I had to shoot a third flare to warn the others about the fire; but after that I realized that the fire was already big enough."

"I'm making a note never to give you explosives."

"We'd have to find some first."

"Point," Ryan conceded. The two had arrived at the food dispensing site.

The site had been set-up inside an old building, though nobody could remember what the building used to be for. A few gates had been set-up to form a line; the destination was a machine that dispensed a "food" package every ten minutes. Metro-cops stood on silent guard nearby, their hands resting on their stun-sticks as they watched citizens moving back and forth.

Walking with their eyes down, Ryan and Jay made their way to the dispenser. Jay inserted his meal card into the machine's input slot, a few minutes later a food package came out. Jay took the package and slowly made his way out. The Combine didn't exactly encourage socialization on their watch, so Jay pretended to leave.

Just when he had reached the door, Ryan caught up with him, a food package cradled in his hands. "Jay, hold up!" he shouted when Jay moved towards the door.

"What?"

"Didn't you see the group of CPs back there?"

Jay thought for a moment, "OH….yeah. I definitely saw them."

"Really?"

"No!" Jay said, looking at Ryan like he was crazy, "What's the big deal, anyway?"

"Metro-cops talking in a group generally means that bad things are about to happen."

Comprehension drew on Jay as he said, "Oh, I can spy on them! I just wish I had a ninja costume!"

"I don't think a black outfit is very stealthy," Ryan said with a frown.

"Well that doesn't mean it's not fun to wear Ryan!"

"So you'll do it?"

"Sure."

"Alright, just don't look like your spying."

"No problem," Jay said as he handed Ryan his food package and made his way over to the small cluster of CPs.

Four of them were grouped into a circle, their modulated voices echoing off the walls. Seeing that they were standing by a vending machine, Jay decided to use that to his advantage. As he passed between the CPs he said, "Excuse me officer, I'm just getting a can of Doctor Breen's Private Reserve. I am not spying!"

Ryan hit his head against the wall at his friend's stupidity. He waited a few minutes before Jay came back over to where he was standing by the font door. As soon as Jay was close enough Ryan asked, "Well, what were they saying?"

"I don't know."

Ryan raised his eyebrow as he looked at Jay, "What do you mean 'I don't know?'"

"Well I was too busying pretending not to listen that I forgot to listen!"

"Forget it; let's just go find another apartment." Ryan said after hitting his head against the wall in frustration.

The two clutched their food packages and headed back to the residential district of City 17.

**How was it?**


End file.
